A limited constitutional government calls for a rules-based, freemarket monetary system, not the topsy-turvy fiat dollar that now exists under central banking. This issue of the Cato Journal examines the case for alternatives to central banking and the reforms needed to move toward free-market money.

The more widespread use of body cameras will make it easier for the American public to better understand how police officers do their jobs and under what circumstances they feel that it is necessary to resort to deadly force.

Americans are finally enjoying an improving economy after years of recession and slow growth. The unemployment rate is dropping, the economy is expanding, and public confidence is rising. Surely our economic crisis is behind us. Or is it? In Going for Broke: Deficits, Debt, and the Entitlement Crisis, Cato scholar Michael D. Tanner examines the growing national debt and its dire implications for our future and explains why a looming financial meltdown may be far worse than anyone expects.

The Cato Institute has released its 2014 Annual Report, which documents a dynamic year of growth and productivity. “Libertarianism is not just a framework for utopia,” Cato’s David Boaz writes in his book, The Libertarian Mind. “It is the indispensable framework for the future.” And as the new report demonstrates, the Cato Institute, thanks largely to the generosity of our Sponsors, is leading the charge to apply this framework across the policy spectrum.

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GOP Governors Lead the Way!

In recent years, Republican governors have been doing a fantastic job of carrying the torch for fiscal conservatism and burnishing the GOP’s brand name as the tax-cutting party. This leadership is clear from two stories in State Tax Notes today [subscription req’d]:

“In an effort to break the budget impasse that has lasted over a month, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has proposed a temporary 1 percentage point sales tax increase. The increase would run for three years and is expected to raise between $5 billion and $6 billion yearly, or over $15 billion for the three-year period.”

“Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) said August 4 that he would plug the state’s $90 million Medicaid funding hole by raising taxes on state hospitals. Barbour wants to raise hospitals’ gross revenue assessment – the tax hospitals pay on the money that flows into their coffers – from 0.45 percent to 1.08 percent. … The increased tax rate would raise $88 million; the remaining $2 million would be saved by cutting funds from other services. But don’t expect the state’s hospitals to accept this plan lying down. The Mississippi Hospital Association filed a lawsuit against the governor in 2005 when he proposed something similar. …’It’s a good, fair deal that taxes the hospitals, not our citizens – and rightly so,’ Barbour said in a press release describing the plan.”

Voters and taxpayers in these states will appreciate the strong conservative thrust of these policies. Schwarzenegger’s tax hike is only “temporary,” and will surely expire after runaway state spending has been cut and current fiscal problems solved. And Barbour wisely wants to impose his tax hike on hospitals, which clearly won’t burden the people of Mississippi or the state economy at all.